Nine days ago, in a blog entry about China’s milk scandal, I asked:
What is it about animal agriculture, and the people attracted to this industry, that constantly causes corners to be cut where animal welfare and food safety are concerned?
Well, that question has just been beautifully answered in an op-ed published in today’s New York Times. Turns out that China’s food purity problems are remarkably similar to those that existed 150 years ago in New York.
In both cases, profiteering ran amuck in a climate without meaningful government oversight. Commenting on the current Chinese scandal, the author writes:
This isn’t just laissez-faire — it’s an approach to the food supply that is so deliberately hands off that it amounts to an invitation to swindling.
How hands off?
In China, journalists have known of the poison milk for months, but weren’t allowed to spread the news because of the Olympics.
And don’t count on this problem being corrected anytime soon:
China faces many more food scandals — to add to recent alarms like pesticide-laced dumplings and lard made from sewage — before it reaches the point where its citizens can routinely trust what they eat.
Take home lesson: without governmental oversight, animal agribusiness will always cut any and all corners where animal welfare and food safety is concerned. Link.
